Gary.Bewell@f34.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Gary Bewell) (06/05/90)
Index Number: 8610
JE> I was reading your message to Laura commenting that you
JE> cannot think of anybody disabled in your government. I
JE> started thinking about it and realized that I could not
JE> think of any MPs (members of parliament) in our canadian
JE> government either. No wonder we are having such a hard
JE> time getting the government to make changes to make the
JE> lives of the disabled easier.
Provinically Don Getty, the Premier of Alberta, was beat out in the
last provinical election by Percy Wickman who has a disability.
(For those in the States, the Premier is similar to a Governor
although he becomes premier because his party won a majority of
seats in the Legislature.) Getty had to run in a by-election to
get a seat in the Legislature.
Federally Stanley Knowles comes to mind even though he is retired.
He was a member of Parliament for 38 years. He was diagnosed as
having MS back in 1946 and suffered a stroke in 1982. Here are
some extracts from the Canadian Encyclopedia:
'the best known and respected of Canada's Opposition MPs'
'In 1984 Parliament, in an extraordinary retirement gift, named him
an honourary officer of the House with a place, for life, at the
Clerk's Table.'
If you are able to watch the parliamentary channel, you will see
him seated on the left side of a table just in front of the Speaker
of the House of Commons.
Gary
# Origin: T.P.V. - Calgary, Alberta, Canada (NETWORK 8:7500/198)
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!34!Gary.Bewell
Internet: Gary.Bewell@f34.n129.z1.fidonet.orgGary.Bewell@f34.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Gary Bewell) (06/05/90)
Index Number: 8611
JE> No wonder we are having such a hard
JE> time getting the government to make changes to make the
JE> lives of the disabled easier.
My understanding is that things are getting better although they
still take time.
When John Fraser became the Speaker of the House of Commons, he
forced government departments and ministers to implement the
recommendations of 1981 report of the Special Committee for the
Disabled. He made the politicians and bureaucrats accountable to
him. He also changed the status of the Special committee to one of
a standing committee.
Part of the problem is the difference in needs for different types
of disability. Curb cuts are a good example. When they first came
out, they were smooth. A friend who is blind found himself out in
traffic quite often because he had no idea where the edge of the
curb was. Now they roughen them up and he has no problems telling
where he is. But now I have some problems when my MS is acting
up. I often stumble over the cobbles. I'm just trying to point
out that there is no easy solution to our problems. When we look
for change, we look for it to address our own problems without
thinking how it affects people with other disabilities.
I think my major concern is for accessible housing. In Calgary,
most builders are into making big bucks. They have gone over to
in-fill lots. These are often two or three multi-story houses on
what used to be a single lot. Neither the builders or the buyers
are thinking about the long range problems. In 20 to 30 years most
of the owners won't be able to live in these houses because they
won't be able to get up the steep sets of stairs. It will
definitely be interesting.
Gary
# Origin: T.P.V. - Calgary, Alberta, Canada (NETWORK 8:7500/198)
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!34!Gary.Bewell
Internet: Gary.Bewell@f34.n129.z1.fidonet.orgGreg.See-Kee@f631.n712.z3.fidonet.org (Greg See-Kee) (06/05/90)
Index Number: 8623
J> I was reading your message to Laura commenting that you cannot
J> think of anybody disabled in your government.
This is not true.
Most people who are disabled (one in eight of the general
population) HIDE their disabilities.
Probably the most common ones are:
vision-impairment (spectacle-wearing is a mild form of this)
hearing-loss (especially blue-collar & elderly people)
diabetes
extreme over-weight
drug addiction (espec. non-criminal drugs)
J> No wonder we are
J> having such a hard time getting the government to make changes to
J> make the lives of the disabled easier.
There is an overall taboo in practically every society on this
planet, to DENY HANDICAPS.
HANDICAPS cover more than just medical disability. It includes
having non-wealthy parents, being the wrong-religion in the
wrong-neighbourhood, etc.
Until we are preparted to be HONEST, rather than TACTFUL,
everyone will continue to enforce the biggest problem yet
confronting humankind: their extremely oppressive belief systems.
Remember when the "stupid" humans used to believe that the sun
wenyt around the Earth, or that the Earth was "flat"?
As we work with the disability issue, we are confrointing a
similiar stupidity. Everyoe is being so "POLITE" that the full
truth is not beong allowed to be said nor recognized.
The disability industry is the planet's biggest industry. We are
all born disabled, and most of us we will die as disabled people.
The sickening fairy floss being thrown about this whole
conference is just a measure of how desparately the vocal few are
trying to enforce the status quo:
ENFORCE THE TABOO ABOUT HONESTY!
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Internet: Greg.See-Kee@f631.n712.z3.fidonet.org